This creates a complicated and difficult issue. Cats and dogs are carnivores. They are most healthy by eating meat-based foods. But that creates a dilemma. The meat your pet consumes must come from another potentially lovable creature.
It is a sad reality that in order for us and our pets to live, other creatures must die. Even vegetarians kill the plants they consume.
We can't change this, but we can ease the pain. For one, support humane and free-range farming practices. At least the life that the food animal does live should be as normal and decent as possible.
Another thing pet owners can do is decrease the demand on the farmed animal supply. I know the trend in pet foods taken up by marketers is to claim their foods contain "human grade" ingredients and prime cuts that would otherwise be used by humans. But all that does is increase demand on factory farmed animals. (This is not to mention that this marketing ploy is not always truthful. For example, google the class action suit against Natura, Innova, Evo, or the suits by Wysong against several other companies.)
Although it has become fashionable to create a boogeyman out of "by-products," the fact of the matter is that the trimmings and waste from harvested farmed animals is actually more nutritious than pure human grade meat.
Note this comparison between chicken breast and chicken by-products (consisting of parts of the entire chicken minus head, beaks, feet, and feathers):
...plus other nutrient advantages in vitamins, minerals, and amino acids.
The parts from a carcass that we humans stick our nose up at have nothing to do with nutrition and health. In the wild, we and other carnivores would eat the whole prey - and thrive doing so.
By using nutritious "by-products," a pet food is enhanced for health - a very ethical thing. Also less demand is placed on factory farming - another ethical thing since it spares many creatures from a far from decent life.
Video: Sneaking kitty
I'm not sneaking up on you...
Thought for the day: "Losing an illusion makes you wiser than finding a truth." – Ludwig Börne
Word of the day: nutrigenomics - noun: the study of how different foods and nutrients interact with specific genes to increase or decrease the risk of diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, cancers and various other degenerative diseases. This is a corollary of epigenetics. It has long been held that nutrition only impacted one creature during its life. The new science of nutrigenomics shows that nutrients can impact the health of offspring as well. This is powerful and persuasive proof of the critical importance of making intelligent food choices.
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